AudiOn19s

Silver wheels or black wheels. The other thread specifically mentions black wheels but there was a red one with silver wheels that drove by a couple of times and did the whole pop-off-valve "thing" at me while I was detailing it at the store on saturday.

Around a track the GT3 is usually faster than a Turbo although I could see the additional power of the turbo being an advantage at the 'Ring since it's soo long. The turbo in stock form will barely pull the GT3 though in a straight line. I found it particularly amusing that Porsche stated that the GT-R might be a more direct comparison to their Panamera sedan!!!

The pad does take a couple of pannels to get saturated with product, but it doesn't take nearly as much as you think and once the pad is saturated you use less as you go along. I find I actually end up using less on an entire car using the PC than I do by hand...but it actually takes longer as there are spots you'll have to go back and hit by hand that the PC couldn't get into.

You'll actually find that you can get a thinnner, more even coat of Zaino on the car if you apply it with a finishing pad (usually gray) and the PC. This will cut down on any potental that Zaino has for streaking. I did a Shelby that appears to be the same color as yours last weekend and did 2 coats of Z5 topped with Pinnacle Souvran paste wax and it was AMAZING when finished. Dude had some crazy mods done to his car already for only having 1300 miles on it. Andy

If you havn't used a Rotary before I don't suggest picking up and trying to learn on the Shelby. However you'll be fine with a Porter Cable 7424 Orbital as Hoblick suggested. It's an industry standard machine and there are endless adapters, pads etc made for it to aid in it's use. AND it's the only one I think you'll have a chance at getting your hands on locally. Meguiars has one too, so does DeWalt (438 I think), Griots and there's a similar machine called the UDM (Ultimate Detailing Machine) that you may also want to look into but you won't find any of the above locally. Andy

I guess new liter bikes. My old '01 Gixx1k didn't quite make it. Ran the down hill on 270 from 71 towards westerville. Slip on, power commander K&N were the only mods but it only managed to sqeak out 178 on a GPS unit.

And that's really only an issue on the '95 cars because they had a plastic impeller on the pump. They changed that in '96 and corrected the "issue". The real maintenance things you should expect to need done on E36 cars at this point would be RTAB (rear trailing arm bushings), and front control arm bushings. They're both cheap and fairly easy to replace and upgrade to better ones if they need done (bimmerworld is a great source here) IF the ball joints are bad you need to replace the entire control arm at the front. When my brother got his '95 with close to 100K on it we did all of the above and it was ~$450 for parts and we did the install ourselves. Andy

While HP is crucial...frontal area, drag, etc will all become very important at those speeds. My 996 only makes 295hp and is rated to go 174mph which is pretty effective use of what little power it's got. I've never had the thing over about 150 though. The M3 makes nearly 40hp more than the 996 does but isn't nearly as efficent aero wise...esp when you consider frontal area. I tested the 155mph fuel cut when it had the stock software and it reached it pretty easily...and while it's got more pull from 100-140 than the 996 does I have a feeling the M3's frontal area would keep it from having a higher top speed. Probably in the 170 range. That said I could totally see a C5 which has approx. the same power as the M3 being able to pull 180 or damn near close to it thanks to to the combination of good power and low frontal area / drag. Andy

I'm pretty sure he's got big(er) turbo's, upgraded intercoolers, software and exhaust, I've riden in a few cars similarly equipped and they fly. **edit** apparently I'm an idiot. Flashed S4's are still pretty quick. Gotta think the E39 had legs on the top end on him though.

As much as I love my Audi...If I were considering a B5 S4 vs. an E36 M3 I'd pick the M3 every time. About 5 years ago my best friend had a '99 M3 that was totally stock..his girlfriend had a totally stock '01 S4. I extensively drove both cars and I'd choose the M3 over the S4 all day long. Not taking anything away from the Audi, stock for stock performance of the two is basically the same but with software and exhaust the S4 will make the M3 look positively slow. However at this age the possibility of maintenance nightmares are much higher with the Audi than the M3 despite the M3 being older. That and everything else about the M3 just spoke to me on another level. If you are looking for something along those lines you owe it to yourself to find a B5 S4 to drive. They're outstanding cars in their own right, there's alot of merit in having something AWD here in Ohio to daily in the winter, etc. Everyone's opinions of the two cars may be different but I just "feel" the M3 more than I did the S4. As previously noted...if you get the M3 you NEED winter tires for it. There's no option there it's a requirement unless you want something that's useless on bad winter days. B6 S4's are reasonable money too and are less prone to issues than the B5 cars. They're a little more money than an E36 M3 but less than an E46 M3. Andy

As far as parts go...E36 parts are actually really reasonable now unless you really break something big. My personal opinion is you're gonna really enjoy driving the car but come away from it wishing it had more power. But again, for the money one of the most entertaining, do everything drivers on the road. Every time I drive my brothers I try to buy it off of him. The '96 - '97 cars are the bargains if you can find one in good condition. '95's still tend to hold value pretty well as the OBDI is saught after. If you want more power in heavier (yet arguably better for DD) package E46 M3's are getting cheaper for the early cars. '01's with mileage are in the mid 20's now...but maintenance will be higher becuase of the solid lifter setup and parts are still quite a bit more expensive for the E46 vs. E36. Andy

I use Microfiber gloves and wash wheels with my hands. I've tried just about every brush and gizmo on the market and there's always some part of the wheel that needs to be gone over again becasue spots couldn't be reached. I've been using the gloves for about a year now and granted they don't last too terribly long and sometimes you can jam your fingers here and there but I've never found anything more effective at cleaning the wheels correctly the first time without additional effort. AND they're made from microfiber so they're safe for the finish too. http://www.autogeek.net/pairglov.html There's also a new wheel brush on the market that I havn't yet tried and have been thinking about picking up. Mainly because I can't fit my hands between the spokes of every wheel on the market which doesn't allow me to clean the inner barrels of the wheels very well. I've been thinking of picking this brush up for times when I need something smaller to reach between the spokes to get the inside of the wheels clean. http://www.autogeek.net/ezdebrfca.html

If you read closely the powerball for paint was specifically designed to get into tight corners and crevices that a conventional rotary buffer setup can't quite get 100%. It's pretty goofy and ineffective to use on an entire car. Not to mention I highly doubt it'd finish out the paint very nicely either. For tough to reach areas great...for the rest of the car no. Andy

Actually this is a sign that you're using it correctly. The coats of Zaino should be soo light that on cars that are silver or white you really need to be in a darker garage with it being light outside to get a good idea of the haze on the surface of the car to see where you're working. IF you go too heavy with the Zaino it can streak and be a bit finiky...so what you're doing is correct..keep it up. Get about 3 solid coats on there and you should be good to go. Andy

Biggie Smalls http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/small1.jpg

Porsche is about to release their 4 door sedan as well. It'll be interresting to see how these cars do in the market.

Lucky Me....but No wife / car pictures boys, those are for my eyes only!

You'll probably have the option to buy it back from the insurance company...BUT it'll have a salvage title and you'll have to fix the car and have it inspected by the state prior to being able to register it again. So if they give you $1000 for the car to total it...even if you buy it back for next to nothing if the repair costs are more than what they give you then you're going to end up spending out of pocket anyhow or else you won't be able to drive it at all. Sucks for you. I had an uninsured motorist hit my wife while she was driving my car a few years back...nothing good came of it, lots of headaches even though my insurance company was first class with the whole thing. Andy

I'm with everyone here. Great looking car and well executed. Andy

I've seen alot of issues with GM wheels doing this and they have yet to step up to the plate and admit that the finish on the wheels is just crap. I'm guessing all of the wheels are doing it and they're pretty evenly doing it as well. If it's just a blotchy spot on one of the wheels or something caused by too strong of a cleaner on the surface then you'd be able to polish out the surface of the clear and bring back the shine. (assuming it didn't completely eat the clear at that spot). What I've seen though appears to me to be as though the finish is actually hazing UNDER the clear and there's nothing short of stripping and refinishing them that can be done. Andy

Thanks for the compliments Gents. The Audi's next up for a revival but it's probably going to have to wait as the fall is always pretty busy. Andy

Put the mufflers back on....I was gonna photoshop something in there to point out my exhaust tips to Derek since he loved my track pipes soo much.

Ha...it's pretty bad that I have to make it an event to detail my own car. It's no secret this car has been a track rat this summer. It's easily logged >1000 track miles in the last 5 months and despite my best efforts to keep it spotless the rubber marks dirt everywhere and lack of time to properly keep after it the car finally got the point where it was no long acceptable. No befores...it wasn't horrible but Light swirling was starting to develop and it didn't have the gloss level I wanted so last thursday I washed it and clay'd it and put it away in the garage to work on in my spare time. I finally finished Saturday afternoon just in time for it to be overcast which is the first set of pictures. But I pulled it back out today to get some full sun shots too: Process: Wash Clay Zaino ZAIO on wheels Polish: Megs 105 and purple foam wool on a couple of trouble spots Polish with Menzerna SIP on white polishing pad @ 1500rpm Polish with Menzerna PO85RD with gray pad for finishing Polish wiht Menzerna PO85RD on blue pad (just to try to add a little more gloss) 2 coats of Pinnacle Souveran paste wax http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture127.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture129.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture134.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture151.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture164.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture165.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture172.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture176.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture182.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/Picture161.jpg Andy

As it's already been stated...there are soo many reason in favor of Synthetic oil that it should be a no brainer. It'd be hard to justify situations where it's NOT worth it. I run Mobile 1 in the A4 as I feel it's "good enough" for my daily driven street car. At 165K miles I still keep change intervals low on that car (3500 miles) but it never reall gets driven hard anymore. For more agressive applications there a better oils than Mobile1 though. I run Redline in the 996 and Castrol motorsport oil in the M3. Both come it at approx. $10 a quart but I fully believe that I should do everything possible to protect those engines as I drive them harder than the M3. Andy

No clue how these got here?...this isn't where this thread was when it was created. Andy